Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I just love Christmas in my hometown of New Orleans! This is the first year that my girls asked how Santa would know to bring their gifts to grandma’s house, and if we could make cookies for him. How could I possibly resist such a sweet request? But if I’m going to have to eat a bunch of cookies on Santa’s behalf, you better believe that they are going to be insanely delicious. A generous sprinkling of coarse sea salt turns the all-time favorite cookie classic into an out-of-this-world flavor sensation. It’s absolutely impossible to resist the fusion of sweet and salty combined with warm, gooey chocolate chunks. I dare you not to eat a few of these straight out of the oven. If you don’t have a social excuse to bake, don’t fret, because you can easily halve this recipe. Not that I would ever judge you for eating them all, after all these cookies are positively irresistible. I guarantee you that a batch of these will move you to the top of the nice list no matter how naughty you’ve been this year!

Cream the butter in your mixing bowl. Add the sugars and combine. Add the eggs and combine. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add half of the flour and combine. Add the rest of the flour and combine thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Drop spoonfuls of dough on a baking sheet leaving enough room around for the cookies to spread out. You can make these as big or as small as you would like. Bigger cookies will need a little longer to bake through.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies generously with coarse sea salt.

Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes if you like your cookies incredibly soft and gooey or for 12 minutes if you prefer a little crunch around the edge.

When it comes to dessert, particularly rich chocolate, it’s often safer to pair along the rule of opposites. So rather than pair these delicate cookies with a rich dessert wine, I prefer to look for one that is lighter and more refreshing to help cleanse the palate between cookies, I mean bites! Try a sparkly Moscato d’Asti for a match made in chocolate heaven. If you prefer red dessert wines, reach for a light and sparkly Italian Brachetto. And if you do like heavier wines that aren’t too sweet, a velvety Port or French Banyuls would harmonize perfectly with these simple yet decadent salted chocolate chip cookies.